Chapter 205: White Plague

"Just talking casually?"

"Just talking casually is fine; you don't even have to speak from a doctor's perspective." Kraft shifted into a more comfortable position leaning against the armrest to make the atmosphere seem more casual. "We aren't going to revoke your degree certificate anyway."

Wylan wiped a hand across the spines of those two books on Human Anatomy, feeling the obvious thickness of the accumulated dust, and said in a sinister tone, "No, I actually can."

"Forget it, forget it, Instructor Wylan. We let it go back then; others count as excellent alumni, don't they?" Having graduated many years ago and drifted far from the book knowledge no longer in use, even if they made Dai Wei take the exam for fifteen generations, he might not pass.

Kraft pulled Wylan back into the chair, stopping him from continuing to imagine the current surgical standards of students who had graduated years ago.

"I see you have quite a few patients with infectious diseases here; the volume of cases you encounter must be far greater than in the academy, so I believe you must have your own understanding."

Dai Wei cast a grateful look, shoved the heart that had risen to his throat back down, and shrank into the seat to start thinking about what valuable information he could offer.

This was undoubtedly somewhat difficult; at present, internal medicine was far more conservative than surgery, yet very open in certain aspects.

The conservatism lay in the fact that, due to pharmacological theories and pharmaceutical methods, everything basically stemmed from the Humoral Theory, a text from an extremely ancient era; limited variations had solidified into classics through long-term interpretation, leaving no room for tricks.

Bringing this up to two teachers who had just arrived by carriage from the medical school would be pure arrogance, and there was even a risk of having one's license revoked.

The openness lay in the fact that, setting aside the Four Humors Theory which often didn't match clinical reality, there were actually a vast number of "folk miracle cures," "ancestral secret prescriptions," and "missionary secret formulas" claiming miraculous effects, with many people solemnly guaranteeing their efficacy.

Unlike surgery, where a single cut going slightly wrong could truly kill, regarding the matter of "eating something to cure an illness," everyone from a rural old farmer to a consulting doctor could say a few words, truly achieving mass participation and universal healthcare.

Many of the pharmacopoeias on that bookshelf came from this source; trying medicines heard to be useful was something one got used to and never thought of this consequence.

Compared to a former teacher seeing an anatomy work one hadn't flipped through, the more frightening scene was Wylan suddenly getting the urge to open a certain prescription, causing one to go black before one's eyes; this was truly a possibility of having one's degree certificate revoked.

Fortunately, he was stopped.

These were things that couldn't be spoken of. Dai Wei realized he couldn't find anything regarding diagnosis and treatment to say at the moment. That particularly young-looking professor sat patiently on the side, looking very good-tempered, showing no signs of impatience despite the wait.

【Residence, Work, Economic Status, Treatment Methods, Interpersonal Relationships】

After a long silence, thinking of the content the other party had brought up, he searched for impressions of those who had come to the clinic seeking drug treatment and began his narration:

"Tuberculosis is a disease of the poor," Dai Wei affirmed, braving Wylan's look that seemed to say, "You'd better save face."

"I know some people deliberately contract it due to a pursuit of appearance, so it is often seen in some ladies and their husbands, but I must say, this is a completely disease of the poor."

He observed Kraft's reaction; the latter nodded noncommittally, signaling him to continue.

"I have seen many patients who came for consultation due to coughing and coughing up blood; most wouldn't buy syrup priced in silver coins to stop the cough, and even fewer were willing to buy honey."

"In a hundred, it would absolutely not exceed three." He curled his thumb and index finger, extending three fingers. "Undoubtedly, honey is the best medicine for coughs; I would recommend it to every patient with severe coughing and coughing up blood, but very few would buy it."

"The majority are residents of the New District; I can tell from their clothes. Generally, they come for consultation when the symptoms of coughing up blood are very obvious and they are physically exhausted, asking what methods can relieve the symptoms as quickly as possible."

Dai Wei spread his hands, "There is no way."

"At this stage, it is very troublesome; the lesion in the lung is bleeding, requiring breathing as gently and slowly as possible and minimizing damage to the lung; this is the same principle as immobilizing a broken limb with a splint, very easy to understand."

"The optimal method is rest in a comfortable environment; the next best is to stop the cough to reduce strain on the lungs, but they mostly choose herbal medicine."

"According to my personal experience, elderflower and elderberry have good effects and also seem to have some effect on fevers, though the cough-suppressing effect is far less direct than syrup. So I would use elderberry and elderflower juice, adding it to an Echinacea water decoction."

"Some of them feel better and go back to doing whatever they were doing." Dai Wei adjusted the cloth covering his mouth and nose. "Most will come back, and among those, most will bring family members; children are very common."

"You won't see slender waists or flushed faces behind pale skin when coughing in these people; you will only feel the cough spreading from one person to another, more and more, closer and closer. The countryside is actually better; the more crowded the place, the more this happens, like a funeral procession knocking on door after door."

"In the most crowded places of the New District, if anyone says they have been coughing for more than ten days, tuberculosis is the first thing to consider; I would advise them to isolate themselves."

"Have you ever statistically tracked their survival time after falling ill?" Kraft wrote down the situation he described. These things lacked detailed statistical data and were mostly subjective experiences, but they reflected reality roughly as imagined.

"No, but they don't live long. To a certain extent, one day they will cough up massive amounts of blood, choke to death on their own blood, or slowly suffocate from being unable to breathe. Persisting in activities that consume a lot of physical strength will bring that day forward."

"That is roughly all I know." Dai Wei drank some water to moisten his lips, noticed the emptiness before the remaining few, and hurriedly stood up to get a cup.

Kraft raised a hand to stop him from reaching for the questionable hygiene tea set. "If I hope to carry out surgical treatment here, do you think there are any difficulties? After all, compared to oral medication, my method will cause certain damage to the body."

"No, why would you think that?" This purely internal medicine doctor asked in surprise. "As long as an effective option is provided, someone will surely be willing to try it, even if the probability of death is fifty percent or higher."

"If I must say there is any difficulty, it is that few people here can probably afford the price of you performing the surgery personally; even the carriage fare for that four-wheeled carriage from the academy to here is high enough."

Charging money for testing new treatment methods was something that could only happen in an era where the medical field was in chaos. "Then there is no problem. Next, I will pilot the application of the artificial pneumothorax treatment method here, charging only a small fee for the treatment operation; the cost of occupying the venue can be paid at market price."

"Charging such a fee would make me feel uneasy inside." Dai Wei didn't need to turn his head to know Instructor Wylan was looking at him; the threat was visible to the naked eye. "When do you plan to start?"

"Start screening suitable patients for treatment right now. If Doctor Dai Wei is interested, he can also come to learn the technique." Kraft opened the box Kup had carried all the way, revealing neatly arranged steamed and disinfected white cloth bundles inside, containing a full set of tools manufactured by the Westminster Workshop.